DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawahara et. al. (US 20070114843 A1) in view of Asahara et. al. (US 20110153133 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Kawahara discloses an EMB system with a motor; and a reducer (13) for amplifying an output of the motor (see Fig. 2).
Kawahara does not explicitly disclose a gear ratio being selected for the reducer in the EMB system.
Asahara teaches wherein a gear ratio of a reducer is selected from a group of reducer gear ratio candidates, by using reducer gear ratio candidates remaining after excluding a motor ripple generation order obtained based on specification information of the motor (see [0120-0126]). It should be noted that while Asahara does not need to explicitly detail the method of selecting a gear ratio, as Claims 1-11 are structural claims, Asahara only needs to teach the “structural limitations of the claim”, which in the instant case is a reducer with a gear ratio that is not a motor ripple generation order, for more discussion of functional language in structural claims see MPEP 2114.
It would have been obvious, to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention, to combine the teachings of Asahara with the EMB system of Kawahara in order to control the motive power noises in a vehicle (see US 20110153133 A1 [Asahara]; [0001], [0007], [0102]).
Regarding Claim 2, Kawahara modified by Asahara teaches wherein the motor includes a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM), wherein the motor ripple generation order includes the number of poles and the number of slots in the PMSM (see US 20110153133 A1 [Asahara]; [0042], [0054], [0120-0126]).
Regarding Claim 3, Kawahara modified by Asahara teaches wherein the motor ripple generation order includes a basic generation order including a plurality of basic orders obtained based on the number of poles and the number slots (see US 20110153133 A1 [Asahara]; [0120-0126]).
Regarding Claim 4, Kawahara modified by Asahara teaches wherein the basic generation order includes a plurality of basic orders which are obtained based on a plurality of mechanical orders representing an order of ripple generated due to mechanical characteristics of the motor and a plurality of electrical orders representing an order of ripple generated due to electrical characteristics of the motor (see US 20110153133 A1 [Asahara]; [0120-0126]).
Regarding Claim 5, Kawahara modified by Asahara teaches wherein the plurality of mechanical orders include a first mechanical order representing the number of poles, a second mechanical order representing the number of slots, a third mechanical order representing the least common multiple of the number of poles and the number of slots, and a fourth mechanical order representing twice as many as the third mechanical order, and the plurality of electrical orders include a first electrical representing a half multiple of the number of poles and a second electrical order representing the number of poles (see US 20110153133 A1 [Asahara]; [0120-0126]).
Regarding Claim 6, Kawahara modified by Asahara teaches wherein the basic generation order includes a plurality of basic orders including the plurality of mechanical orders and the plurality of electrical orders altogether (see US 20110153133 A1 [Asahara]; [0120-0126]).
Regarding Claim 7, Kawahara modified by Asahara teaches wherein the motor ripple generation order further includes an extended generation order which is obtained by extending the basic generation order to a preset extended range (see US 20110153133 A1 [Asahara]; [0120-0126]).
Regarding Claim 8, Kawahara modified by Asahara teaches wherein the extended generation order includes a plurality of extended orders which are obtained by extending each of the plurality of basic orders of the basic generation order by using the extended range (see US 20110153133 A1 [Asahara]; [0120-0126]).
Regarding Claim 9, Kawahara modified by Asahara teaches wherein the extended range represents one of ±1, ±2, and ±1 and ±2 (see US 20110153133 A1 [Asahara]; [0120-0126]).
Regarding Claim 10, Kawahara modified by Asahara teaches wherein, if the motor is operating at a frequency of a preset reference value or above, or the motor is operating at a varying speed, the motor ripple generation order further includes the extended generation order which is obtained by extending the basic generation order to the extended range (see US 20110153133 A1 [Asahara]; [0120-0126]).
Regarding Claim 11, Kawahara modified by Asahara teaches wherein, the gear ratio of the reducer is selected from a group of reducer gear ratio candidates consisting of gear ratios selectable for the reducer, by using reducer gear ratio candidates remaining after excluding gear ratio candidates corresponding to all orders included in the motor ripple generation order (see US 20110153133 A1 [Asahara]; [0120-0126]).
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Jo (US 20110193431 A1), Nishizaki (JP 2005067371 A), and Tsukagoshi et. al. (US 20240227771 A1).
Jo discloses a method of selecting a gear ratio for motor ripple generation including excluding specific orders.
Nishizaki discloses selecting a reduction gear ratio in order to reduce noise generated by cogging.
Tsukagoshi teaches a method of controlling a motor’s signals using a speed reducer.
Conclusion
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/S.W.I./Examiner, Art Unit 3616
/Robert A. Siconolfi/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3616
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